Difference Between Tamil and Hindi

India is known for its diversity in its people and its culture. It also has a variety of languages spoken and written by its people to communicate with each other. Two of the most known Indian languages are Tamil and Hindi.

Both Tamil and Hindi are classified as Indian languages. They belong to the different linguistic families. Hindi is classified under the Indo-European linguistic family. It is further classified into Indo-Aryan, Central Family, Western Hindi, Khamboli, Hindustani, and Standard Hindi. Hindi is traditionally written in Devanagari Script.

Hindi is one of the official languages of India. The other official language is English since the implementation of Hindi as the language of governance is an on-going process. Aside from being the official language of the country, Hindi is also considered the official language of its nine states and the co-official language in other states.

As an official language of India, Hindi is taught in many areas in the country. Many Hindus abroad also speak it. This infers that there are more people or native speakers of Hindi. The latest figure is 160 million excluding those who speak Urdu.

Tamil, on the other hand, belongs with the Dravidian language and is written in the Tamil script. Tamil is one of the four Dravidian languages that also include: Telugu, Kannada, and Malayalam. It is the oldest of the four languages.

In addition, Tamil also enjoys a very long history. It has been in existence for more than 2,000 years. This makes Tamil the oldest and longest surviving classical languages in the world.

Hindi is commonly spoken by people in the North and Central India, whereas Tamil is spoken by the people in the Indian State of TamilNadu and Pondicherry, an Indian Union territory. Aside from India, it is also spoken in Sri Lanka, Singapore, Malaysia, and Mauritius.

In India, Tamil is only official in Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. In other areas, it is one of the minority languages as well as 1 of the 22 classified languages. In addition, Tamil enjoys the status of being the first language to be given the classical status.

In terms of numbers, according to the latest statistics, the language is spoken as a native language of 65 million people.

Tamil also refers to the people who speak the Tamil language and their culture.

Summary:

Both Tamil and Hindi are Indian languages spoken by the Hindu people. However, there are many differences between the two.

Both languages came from different language families. Hindi came from the Indo-European linguistic family while Tamil is a descendant of the Dravidian languages. Hindi is written in the Devanagari script while Tamil uses its own distinctive script.

Hindi enjoys the status as being one of the official languages of the country. It is also an official language in many states as well as the co-official language in the remaining states. It is widely used by the people particularly in the North and Central India. Its native speakers are more than half of the Tamil native speakers. On the other hand, Tamil also enjoys the status as an official language in the state of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. It is also spoken in other foreign countries.

Tamil is much older compared to Hindi. It is the oldest of the Dravidian languages and one of the longest and long-lasting languages in the world. In addition, it is regarded as one of the classical languages in India.

Aside from being a descriptive term for a distinctive language, Tamil is also referred to for the people who speak it. On the other hand, there is no counterpart for the Hindi language except for the national identity of Hindu.

8 Comments

There are few mistakes in your
1. Tamil is not one of the 4 dravidian languages, it is 1 of the 21 dravidian languages spoken today kindly Google it for more info the list and distribution map. You will be surprised!
2. Hindi speakers are not known as Hindus as they mearly make a percentage of the total Hindu population. They are known by their state and no common name. Hindi cannot solely represent Hinduism, to your serprise Hinduism is practised in different ways among the Tamils and Hindi speakers, gods have different versions and some gods are more a part of the Tamil culture an language(lord muruga is known as the Tamil god around the world). Its a huge topic on the differences, the reasons and the evidences. If u want to know more abt it for kindly email me.

Sivan, Parvathi, Vinayagar is a Tamil God created for the world.
Murugan is a Tamil God created for the Tamils. Tamil is way more older than you mentioned. At least more than 10000 years old. It’s one of the first human civilization.

Sivan, Parvathi, Vinayagar is a Tamil God created for the world.
Murugan is a Tamil God created for the Tamils. Tamil is way more older than you mentioned. At least more than 10000 years old. It’s one of the first human civilization.

Hi,
Tamil language is considered as one of the oldest language in the world, it’s even considered as the mother language, in that way you cannot compare Tamil language with another languages if you remove foreign words from other languages they can’t be last long, but if you remove foreign words from Tamil language it can have its own words , Tamil literature is developed before thousands of years , all the Hindi speakers can’t become Hindus they just make a part of Hinduism …
In Tamil literature before thousands of years it’s written that “slice the atom into two parts , .. Sail over the seven seas ..” How did people know about atom ,and seven seas in the world before thousands of years without any modern technology that was written by a Tamil poetess named Avvaiyar ,…. Google it … To find more interesting about Tamil ..

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Written by : Celine.
and updated on May 11, 2016

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